CITY FARM RISES FROM MUD
North-west Quest News, 12 Oct 2005
Rising from the devestation of Brisbane's 1974 floods, Northey Street City Farm has become the Australian model for inner-city sustainable gardening.
Initially a flood-prone housing estate, Northey Street began its life as mown parkland before a team of griends set out to transform the Windsor site into a model of urban agriculture just over a decade ago.
Now with more than 1000 fruit trees, organic gardens, an edible landscapes nursery and a green waste recycling plant, the 4ha farm sustains a weekly market, school and community education programs, and a number of part-time staff.
Staff member Tash Morton said the farm would continue to develop and provide opportunities for volunteer and education programs.
http://www.northeystreetcityfarm.org.au/
THE PLOT THICKENS
The Sunday Mail, 25 Jun 2006
Six years ago Phil Ryan ended a long and colourful chapter as a bookseller. Then he turned his indomitable spirit towards organic gardening. Gillian Cummings reports.
Somewhere on Brisbane's western fringe, on a tranquil plot of land where tall trees make a welcom buffer from the distractions of city living, Phil Ryan is applying tried and true preinciples of organic gardening to turn rock and shale into black gold.
"In July I will celebrate five years at The Plot," a jubilant Phil, 66, says of daily trips to his 4000sq m organic garden so dubbed by grandchildren.
The land, carved off a close friend's acreage holding, had many years before been subdivided from a dairy farm. Back then, says Phil, mangoes, bananas and other fruit and vegies grew in abundance.
When new housing estates began to sprout in the area, the old dairy farm's kitchen garden gradually disappeared. By the time Phil first stepped on to The Plot five years ago, it was a mess.
After 45 years as a bookseller, the family business suddenly gone, he and wife Margaret found themselves on a garden chub bus trip through the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
"I was blessed in finding my way to Jade and Paul Woodhouse's natural organic farm at Eudlo," Phil says.
"We walked through Jade's big gate and into a sanctuary, a wonderland. People tell stories of a sudden change of life, a total turnaround, a flash of light so intense that you know right there and then that this is what you want to do."
There was a lot to learn, though, as he admits he knew "virtually zilch" about horticulture. So he started with lessons in organic principles and practice from Jade Woodhouse and began to read a lot of books and magazines on the subject, obtained from libraries and secon-hand stores.
There was a lot of hard yakka ahead - clearing The Plot of weeds; creating a series of swales on the gently sloping terrain to capture water to soak deeply into the soil; first plantings of fruit and natural fertilisers; and, eventually, the rehabilitating the "dump" hole.
"I use the water about seven times fefore it gets to the creek at the bottom. We're in the middle of a five-year drought, yet there are green bananas and greens here - the direct result of this work. Most places planted out like this over the past four to tive years would be very dry-looking."
From his studies, Phil realised careful groundwork was the hey to a viable organic garden.
Now he has piles of compost in varying stages of maturation producing "black gold".
Companion planting helps healthy plant growth and no chemical pesticides or wedicides are used. Pumpkins carpet the ground, suffocating weeds and containing moisture beneath.
"Gardening is one of life's great mysteries and mother nature holds all the cards, so working with nature is a good start. Getting help and advice is another," he says.
In July last yearwith the help of family members Phil planted 35 fruit trees and vines. Less than a year later, the pawpaws had all fruited well, the vines were heavy with passion fruit and the citrus were robust.
Despite trial and error with plantings, and the need to be vigilant to protect The Plot from brush turkeys, white cocatoos and bandicoots, its harvest has kept the extended Ryan family in regular supply.
"It's such a challenge that I'll never get to the end of it, as I was about bookselling."
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